The present invention relates generally to language translation systems and more particularly to a system, computer-implemented method and article of manufacture that provides language translation and employs a combination of machine and human translations.
Machine language translation systems are well known in the art and provide translation of a limited number of languages based upon information stored in a database. The information includes words, phrases and sentences in a source language and corresponding translated words, phrases and sentences in a target language. As the database is populated with words, phrases and sentences derived from dictionaries and translation algorithms, the information stored in the database is not always accurate or up to date. Nor does the information include all the words, phrases and sentences commonly used in the source and target languages. Furthermore, the information typically does not include the variation that characterizes dialects of a same language spoken in different geographical locations.
To provide for a language translation system that is more robust, some machine language translation systems include a means by which a user can contribute a translation of a word, phrase or sentence. A machine language translation system having this feature is Google Translate (translate.google.com). While user submitted translations can provide a translation of a word, phrase or sentence not previously found in the database or provide an alternative translation for an existing translation, the accuracy of the user submitted translation is not verified by the machine language translation system or by the users of the system.
A human-based language translation system that features user ratings of translated phrases is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0198487 A1 entitled “Community Translation on a Social Network”. Text phrases including content from social networking objects are translated by members of the social network and stored in a translated phrases store. Within the social network, community translations of text phrases include ratings that indicate the perceived quality of the translated phrases by members of the social network. Ratings may be used for determining which translated phrases to display when a translation of a source phrase is requested. Members can vote on the quality of translated phrases submitted by other members and a weight of a member's vote may indicate the voter's credibility and be based on the voter's translation ability as determined by votes received on the voter's translations. The described method does not employ machine translation and relies solely upon member translations of text phrases used within the social network.